Plan to Repair Streets Beyond Valley Is OKd

Without the hostility that marked discussions earlier this week, the City Council approved a street repair plan Friday that includes Central and East Los Angeles as well as the San Fernando Valley.

The council, whose members argued heatedly Wednesday about a proposed repair schedule that focused on the Valley, voted unanimously in favor of the broader project to remove and pave over old railroad crossings.

“This is parity and it’s fair,” said Councilman Nate Holden, who proposed a motion to include immediate approval for the areas in Central and East Los Angeles.

In the Valley, nearly $574,000 will go to rebuild streets at 37 abandoned railroad crossings. In Central and East L.A., repair projects will cost nearly $1.68 million, including $1.35 million in MTA funding and $331,000 in local matching funds. The improvements also will be needed as part of the Pasadena Blue Line Extension construction project.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has approved using state money for 80% of the funding, leaving the city to pay the balance.

Officials say the abandoned tracks slow traffic because city shuttle buses are required by law to stop at the tracks even if they are no longer in use. The bumpy tracks also generate numerous complaints from commuters, they say.

Several council members said that although the city’s repair projects were supposed to eventually include sites outside the Valley, it was unfair to leave them for later.

“The whole city has similar kinds of problems,” said Councilman Mike Hernandez, who represents parts of East Los Angeles.

On Wednesday, Hernandez and other council members were visibly upset that the street repair work was supposed to begin in the San Fernando Valley.

Transportation officials contended that the Valley program was only the first phase of a citywide improvement effort to pave the crossings and smooth traffic flow.

Such disputes about which parts of Los Angeles benefit most from improvement projects are not new. After the Northridge earthquake in 1994, representatives from South and Central Los Angeles complained that damage outside the Valley was largely ignored.

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Lawmakers also have been divided over council votes to set new water and sewer rates that benefit residents in the Valley.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents parts of the northeast Valley, said some of the anger that erupted at the Wednesday meeting was relieved once the details surrounding the repair plans were clarified.

“When people realized it was part of a larger proposal, the rough edges were smoothed out,” Alarcon said Friday. “A simple remedy was to provide a more expeditious scheduling for other sites that were on the list.”